Tag Archives: RAW

Blackmagic has yet again thrown a wrench in the budget cinema pricing machine. BMD announced that their 4K, 12-stop, RAW-recording, production camera (complete with global shutter) is now shipping, at US $2995, a price that is a thousand dollars less than it was previously.

BMD will be selling these things literally by the truckload. I personally own the BMPCC, and adore it. It’s the sharpest sensor of any camera I’ve ever used, and the 12-bit raw color is to die for. Now, with this news of the even cheaper 4K camera shipping, I think I know what my plan for the future will be. I simply can’t wait to get my hands on one.Here is BMD’s product page.

Frame from a BlackMagic Cinema Camera by cinematographer Sebastian Wiegärtner, processed and color-corrected in Adobe Camera RAW by myself.

German cinematographer Sebastian Wiegärtner has posted a link to download a DNG frame from a BlackMagic Cinema Camera. Follow this link to get it. I downloaded the file and opened it in Adobe Camera Raw to play with it, and I have to say that I’m really impressed with the clarity, sharpness, and — most of all — the clean, clean, shadow detail. That alone is making me reconsider waiting to get the BlackMagic Cinema Camera. If I can have a camera with shadows that clean, I may make and exception to my “don’t buy new releases” rule. I still don’t like the fact that it’s Canon EOS mount only, though. I still think that was a mistake. It’s true that the Canon EF mount is the most popular right now, but with Nikon, Panasonic, Sony, and others now fully committed to the cinema game, I think Micro 4/3 would have been a better choice in order to keep all the lens options open.